Business briefs: Bradenton-area agencies partner on export activity

MANATEE COUNTY -- State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota, The Bradenton Area Economic Development Corporation, the Economic Development Corporation of Sarasota County and CareerSource Suncoast have partnered to help local companies increase exports by helping pay for employee training or customized consulting services.

The money for the program will come through a Trade and Logistics Challenge Grant.

For-profit companies that have been in business for at least one year and are involved in any export-related activity are eligible and invited to attend a workshop 7:30-9 a.m. Feb. 27, at SCF Lakewood Ranch, 7131 Professional Pkwy. E. Applications will be accepted following the workshop.

Funded by Workforce Florida, the grant is designed to aid companies that plan to launch or expand the exports from Florida. Workforce Florida's mission is to access new global markets and bolster Florida's role as an International Trade Hub.

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MANATEE COUNTY -- Manatee Memorial Hospital is the first local hospital to implant the Boston Scientific S-ICD System, the only commercially available subcutaneous implantable defibrillator for the treatment of patients at risk for sudden cardiac arrest.

The implantation was performed by Dr. Joseph Pace in Manatee Memorial's Heart and Vascular Center's Hybrid Catheterization Lab this week.

Recent estimates show that approximately 850,000 people in the United States are at risk of sudden cardiac arrest, but remain unprotected.

The S-ICD System is designed to provide the same protection from cardiac arrest as traditional transvenous implantable cardioverter defibrillators. However, the S-ICD System sits just below the skin without the need for thin, insulated wires - known as leads - to be placed into the heart itself. This leaves the heart and blood vessels untouched, providing a new option for both physicians and patients.

The S-ICD System is intended to provide defibrillation therapy for the

treatment of life-threatening ventricular tachyarrhythmias in patients who do not have symptomatic bradycardia, incessant ventricular tachycardia, or spontaneous, frequently recurring ventricular tachycardia that is reliably terminated with anti-tachycardia pacing.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted regulatory approval for the S-ICD System in September of 2012. More than 2,000 devices have been implanted in patients around the world.